


Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Season 1, Episode 21, Ragtag

by TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Analysis, Episode Review, Episode: s01e21 Ragtag, Meta, Nonfiction, Season/Series 01, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-14
Updated: 2019-05-14
Packaged: 2020-03-05 13:44:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18829852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer/pseuds/TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer
Summary: Warning: Contains spoilers for the episode, later seasons, and potentially other MCU works. Complete.





	Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Season 1, Episode 21, Ragtag

**Author's Note:**

> I'm an idiot. I do know how to spell Trip's name, and yet, somehow, I ended up posting a review where I consistently misspelled it as 'Tripp' and didn't realise this for several days. I apologise for this.

Open to a juvenile secure unit in Plymouth, Massachusetts where a teenage boy is taken to the visiting area.

Instead of the boy being in cuffs or simply being escorted normally, a correctional officer is leading him by the arm, and I’m not sure why, but this has always struck me as a weird choice. I don’t like seeing anyone underage in handcuffs, but it’d make sense here. This sort of doesn’t. Clearly, the character is capable of walking unassisted, and he’s somewhat sullen, but I don’t get the impression he’d refuse to follow the guard if not for the physical contact.

Moving on, in the visiting area, a familiar voice greets, “Grant Ward? My name is John Garrett.”

Austin Lyon did a good job as teenage Grant in this episode. I’m not sure how old he was at the time, but I think he was either an actual teenager or in his very early twenties.

Speaking of age ambiguity, it’s not directly stated how old teenage Grant is, but he’s somewhere between 15-17. I tend to believe he was 17, but he could have been intended to be a little younger.

As I said, Young Grant is somewhat sullen, and he’s rightfully on-guard when it comes to this complete stranger, but interestingly, there’s nothing I’d classify as outright rude about his actions or words.

“Quartermaster at your military school is an old buddy of mine.” He motions for Grant to sit, and Grant simply stares. Accepting this, Garrett continues, “Told me about a pissed-off young cadet with off-the-chart hand-eye coordination who went AWOL, stole a car, drove over a thousand miles home, only to try to burn the place down. I must say I find a young man like that- intriguing.”

This gets Grant to sit down.

“I’m curious: Did you know your brother was in the house when you set it on fire?”

It’s not clarified in dialogue if the brother was Thomas or Christian, but based on the challenging glare Grant gives when he lies, “No, sir, I did not,” it’s clear the answer is the latter.

Grown Grant often communicates non-verbally, especially with Garrett, and there’s a well-done moment here where Garrett tells Grant to listen, and Grant gives a small nod.

During this conversation, Garrett uses some emotional cruelty mixed with honesty. It’s not a fun scene for me, but it does show how good Garrett has always been at controlling Grant via emotional manipulation.

Going sort of off-topic but not fully: Sometimes, the best word a person can think of to describe something is a word they’re leery of using.

It’s undeniable Garrett did groom teenage Grant to eventually be a murderer and traitor, but I don’t believe he’s ever been guilty of any sort of sexual abuse. In this scene, there’s thankfully no hint Garrett has any sort of sexual interest or design on this underage kid.

I don’t find it a big deal when an underage character has an interest in someone significantly older as long as there’s no reciprocation on the older party’s end, but there’s also no hint Grant has any sort of sexual attraction to Garrett here. He’s weary, and when he realises this unknown adult might not be another person who’s going to be on his case, he becomes interested and cautiously optimistic in where this might be going.

The word ‘seductive’ doesn’t always have sexual connotations, but it often does.

So, when I say Garrett is seductive in this scene, I’m not trying to imply anything sexual.

This is the tragedy of Grant Ward, however, and why I can never fully hate the character.

I’ve said more than once I don’t blame the other characters for never forgiving him. If someone hurts a person badly enough, their backstory shouldn’t be used to minimise or flat out invalidate the injured party’s pain. They were wrong to do so, and if the victim can find it in them to forgive, good, but they’re not a bad person if they never do.

My problem with the other characters has never been the fact they rightfully despised him. One of my problems with them is, taking in consideration I just outright dislike some of them for reasons having nothing to do with Grant, is: There is a line even people who’ve been badly hurt can cross. Hurting someone back is sometimes justifiable, but there are limits.

And aside from Fitz, the other characters cross this line in some big, terrible ways that make them just as bad, if not worse, than him.

‘Corruption’ is one of the synonyms that popped up for seduction, and in some ways, it fits, but it doesn’t fully work.

Grant Ward was a troubled soul. He had darkness in him.

For all I don’t ship Skyeward, I do believe there is one parallel between them: For all she makes the ‘choice’, she lost her freedom the moment Coulson and Grant opened her van door in the pilot.

Likewise, even if Grant had said no here, there was no real chance for him. He was in Garrett and possibly Hydra’s sights, and they would have either eventually gotten him or made him pay.

Garrett explains he’s part of a secret organisation looking to recruit young men such as Grant. Grant can, “Let me get you out of here, and teach you how to be a man,” or Grant can face potentially being tried as an adult.

Grant brings up the issue of trust, and Garrett straight up tells him, “You shouldn’t. Don’t trust anyone ever. Especially me.”

On the one hand, props for honesty. It’s a shame Grant didn’t take the first and last line more to heart. On the other, sometimes, abusers can weaponise the truth, and this is largely what Garrett’s doing.

“Let me be clear: Going with me will be the hardest thing you’ve ever done. But on the other hand, no one will ever screw with you again.”

And that’s where the first concrete lie is. Many abusers have this weird thing where they’ll often frame themselves as the one person who will never hurt their victim while they’re hurting said victim.

“Say yes,” he urges. “It’ll be hard but fun. Ten seconds, and I walk out that door. Say yes.”

Of course, the confused boy full of emotional turmoil and potentially genuine mental illness does. “Yes.”

Garrett’s always been one for the dramatic, and immediately, armed men invade this place filled with teenagers and other civilians. In a great moment of acting by Lyon, Grant’s immediate reaction is to comply with their orders to get down, but he looks at Garrett before he fully does, and seeing how nonchalant Garrett is, he knows not to.

“I told you it was gonna be fun.”

After the title-card, Team Coulson is in a motel. There are two adjourning rooms with each containing twin beds, and I really wish there’d been one scene of everyone sleeping or just getting ready for bed. I’m pretty sure one person has a single room to themselves, but who, and who is roommates with whom? Are there any instances of adorable platonic bedsharing?

Fitzsimmons and nu!Faith are watching a report on Deathlock Mike killing a Hydra drug lord, and they realise Garrett, Grant, and their stolen plane might not be in America.

Coulson calls them into the other room with May, and awesomely, they have a whiteboard. It’s established Garrett and Grant are associated with Cybertek, Garrett and Cybertek want the drug that healed her and brought Coulson back, and nu!Faith has a plan to infect Cybertek’s computer system to track down Garrett. Coulson makes it clear he’s not letting Garrett get away with murder, and also, he wants his plane back.

Speaking of, Grant isn’t happy Deathlock Mike is essentially Garrett’s shiny new person toy, and as much as I enjoy Garrett, whenever he’s in a scene with Deathlock Mike, I hope the scene where Mike is finally free to stomp all over Garrett comes soon. Garrett 100% deserves it.

Grant, however, is more-or-less ignoring the fact of Mike being an explicitly abused, dehumanised person in favour of being jealous and irritated, because, he could have easily taken out that drug lord for Garrett.

“You’re missing the point: I didn’t want to just cross him off, I wanted to make a spectacle.”

Deathlock Mike comes in, and after becoming even more deserving of the ultimate stomping he’s going to soon get, Garrett calls someone to tell them to let Deathlock Mike see a stream of his son.

Garrett and Grant walk away, and Garrett asks if Grant is still sore over what Mike did to him.

“No, I’m sore at you for making him do it.”

In response, Garrett requests Grant just be happy for him (Garrett) due to the fact he’s on the verge of getting something he’s been chasing for 25 years.

Disturbingly, the fond look on Grant’s face starts to come back at this.

They go to the lab, and Garrett appreciates Raina’s smiling face. He also appreciates the fact she’s close to replicating the drug. Then, he has a snippy line about how he wishes everyone on his team, staring at you, Grant, had a similar success rate.

At the hotel, Fitz and nu!Faith are hanging out near the pool when Coulson comes over. He tells them a meeting with Cybertek has been set up, and Fitz is clinging to the hope Grant might not be as fully Team Garrett as it currently appears.

Trip appears, and he has his Howling Commandos granddad’s spy kit.

Everyone gathers into the room, and Coulson starts out professional before quickly fanboying over the contents. Nu!Faith accidentally burns out the lights with an EMP disguised as a joy buzzer, Fitz ends up accidentally setting the drapes on fire with laser in a fake cigarette, and May wryly comments, “Watch out, Hydra. Here we come.” Heh.

Going back into the past, Garrett, Young Grant, and poor, sweet, awesome Buddy are walking around outside with Garrett carrying some sort of dead bird and a hunting gun. It turns out he owns the land they’re on, and he talks about how he’s going to retire on it someday before prompting, “Speak up, son. I’m not a mind reader.”

Grant’s worried about the police, but Garrett says, 1. Grant’s family would be happy to never see him again, and 2. the police stay out of SHIELD’s way.

This is followed by Garrett doing something monstrous: He takes the bird for himself, shoves a bag at Grant, and after unleashing some verbal cruelty, he leaves an underage teenager and an innocent dog all alone in the wilderness with the promise he’ll be back in a couple of months.

It would have been possible for Grant to hike back to civilisation, but like I said, even going on beyond potentially being thrown in an adult prison for numerous years, this wouldn’t have done anything good. He was selected, and he either accepts this or even worse things will happen.

Back in the present, bespectacled May and Coulson are at Cybertek. They’re being fed lines by Fitzsimmons, and at one point, Coulson and May’s ages come up. Simmons has nothing to say about Coulson, but when it comes to May, she correctly states, “You’re gorgeous!” Aw. And heh.

One thing I’ve always liked about Simmons’ character is the fact she frequently sincerely fangirls all over other women.

Trip and nu!Faith are in the front of the van containing Fitzsimmons, and the four talk to one another as Fitzsimmons feeds the lines.

Inside, the meeting doesn’t go well, and after they leave, May and Coulson have some warm and funny moments as they go searching the building.

I just hope they didn’t actually kill the two men they knocked out.

Over with Team Garrett, Deathlock Mike is restrainedly furious with Raina for giving his son to Hydra. Insisting she’s doing all this to help people him and other people who have gifts, she hints she and nu!Faith might not be completely human.

Back to Team Coulson, May and Coulson steal some files before zip-gliding out. Awesome.

Going back into the past, there’s a heartbreaking scene of Teenage Grant sitting against a tree during a raining night. Buddy comes over, and Grant cuddles with him.

Into the present, instead of this happening in and earlier episode or even just earlier in this one, Grant is now yelling about the whole Garrett being cool with Deathlock Mike possibly killing him thing.

I agree Grant has every right to be mad, and frankly, Garrett’s lucky some yelling is all Grant does, but what triggered this now?

Garrett is dismissive and cruel, and he truly starts to strike out only to be stopped by his implants starting to fail.

“John?” Grant catches him before he crumbles to the floor. “John!”

The next scene has Grant and a minion leading Garrett into the lab, and Grant yells for everyone to leave. There’s this moment I really like where he and the minion literally lift Garrett via the legs up onto the cot.

Spotting Raina, Grant again makes it clear she need to GTFA, and the minion leads her by the arm. Unprotesting but still curious, she looks back at them as she’s guided out.

Opening a case, Grant urges him, “Hang in there.”

Garrett lifts up his shirt to reveal the metal plating, and Grant plugs some plugs connected to the case into it.

At the hotel, everyone’s talking about the Cybertek stuff, and they figure out Garrett’s trying to heal himself in addition to creating more like Deathlock Mike. Again, Fitz is clinging to the hope an explosive eyeball or the same thing done to Deathlock Mike is responsible for Grant betraying them, and there’s a mixture of patience and exasperation from the others.

A pizza delivery boy arrives, and it takes Coulson a minute to realise the fake name the boy is calling out is the one he used to order it. Heh.

On the plane, Garrett is stabilised, and this is a great scene by Paxton and Dalton.

Relieved, Grant says, “You scared me. Hasn’t happened like that in a while.”

“Yes, it has.” A subdued Garrett explains his organs are failing.

“What are you saying, John?”

For one so dramatic, this isn’t Garrett’s usual dramatic nature when he turns to look at Grant. “I’m dying.”

Grant’s face makes it clear how much hearing this affects him.

It’s undeniable Grant genuinely loves Garrett. It’s not a healthy love, but it is real. More than simple loyalty or respect, he knows John Garrett, sees him more clearly than almost anyone, and loves him.

He’s either blinded by the fact Garrett is emotionally abusive, or he recognises it but like many victims continues to stay despite doing so.

I don’t think Garrett loves Grant. I doubt he’s even capable of truly loving another person.

However, it’s noteworthy Grant is apparently the person who is closest to him. He can’t trust Raina. Whatever the exact relationship between him and Sitwell is, it doesn’t seem him calling Sitwell up to talk/meet about this is part of it. The minions clearly look up to their charismatic, affable overlord, but obviously, he’s not going to let himself be anything approaching truly emotionally vulnerable with any of them.

It’s clear I often don’t like most of the SHIELD characters. In what what might be irony, I was surprised when I found out someone thought I dislike Skye/Daisy, because, actually, in all the episodes I’ve seen so far, I don’t. I don’t love the character, and I really disagree with some of the things the plot has done with her, but I don’t dislike her.

In episodes like this where their portrayers are doing a good job at bringing the funny and adorable I can watch forget about how much I usually don’t like them, but I’ve been side-eyeing the organisation of SHIELD since The Avengers (2012), and this has turned into full-out, ‘Yeah, they’re one of the worst villainous organisations in the MCU, and they would be even without the Hydra invasion.’

Here’s the however: Even if SHIELD was actually good, I believe Garrett still would have been a villain. So, my dislike of SHIELD and most of the SHIELD characters isn’t responsible for me saying that he couldn’t have gone to any of them, either. Maybe, if SHIELD was actually good, there would have been the option for him to turn to them at some point, but Garrett himself never would have taken it.

This is another part of the reason I like Garrett so much: Some of the villains SHIELD faces, they’re either ‘villains’, because, the narrative insists on propping up SHIELD, or they’re villains, because, SHIELD itself is so horrible that it played a hand in or exacerbated their villainy.

Garrett, though, he’s even worse than May in sadistic sociopathy, and despite my disagreement she might have been different if not for a certain incident, I can acknowledge the argument for that can be legitimately made in her case. Despite certain others’ disagreement Grant might have been different if not for a combination of his childhood abuse and Garrett, I will insist a legitimate argument can be made in his case. In Garrett’s case, if someone can make such an argument, cool, but so far, I’ve yet to see one.

So, in this scene, Garrett might be counting on this emotionally spurring Grant, but also: He’s dying, and the only person he can show true vulnerability about this to is Grant.

In the next scene, May talks privately to nu!Faith.

If I haven’t said this before: When May and Grant hooked up, I was ambivalent, but I wasn’t completely against it. Then, Yes Men, the most horrible episode of this show I’ve seen so far, happened, and now, every time someone brings up the fact May and Grant had a sexual relationship, I get irritated.

Yeah, it’s brought up, nu!Faith would like to a cold sociopath, and May’s like, ‘Hey, irrational, self-righteous, judgemental rage fuels my sociopathy, I’m just good at presenting a stoic front most of the time, and if you’re up for it, I’ll start teaching you physical combat skills.’

Admittedly, I like the last part.

Coulson comes in, and he tells them about figuring out Garrett and Grant are in Cuba.

Over in Cuba, Quinn does not get smacked for being jerkish towards Ernesto the barber, and I object to this. Garrett and Grant come in, and at Garrett’s glee at Quinn’s part in being their new face, Grant continues to be unhappy that Garrett is showering so much on all these new people, but also, he brings up some valid points such as Quinn being an international fugitive.

Quinn brushes this aside by saying he’s been a vocal critic of SHIELD’s for years, and now, SHIELD is down. He leaves, and Grant gets a text from Raina. He goes to talk to her, and having sat down, Garrett says, “Okay, Ernesto, let’s show them what handsome really looks like.”

I love this moment.

Down below, Grant is only interested in the progress of the drug to hopefully save Garrett’s life until Raina tells him about nu!Faith possibly being the daughter of monsters. It plays as if she’s trying to manipulate him, but I get the impression he’s only letting her think she has. He’s interested in nu!Faith and doesn’t think Garrett needs to know this right now, but so far, she’s thinking nu!Faith is the key to gaining an advantage on him, despite him making it clear himself that Garrett, as long as Garrett is alive, will always come before anything and anyone.

Back in the past, Garrett comes back to discover Young Grant has made a campsite. Also, Grant has either a shotgun or a rifle, I know little about weapons, and he asks why he shouldn’t kill Garrett.

“I brought tacos?” Heh. Paxton’s delivery is awesome here. Garrett isn’t afraid, but it’s like, even if he knows this probably isn’t a good incentive for an issue-riddled teenager with a loaded weapon to not use it.

I wouldn’t advocate this in real life, but just pointing out: The tacos are in a bag. Shooting Garrett probably wouldn’t contaminate them, and then, Grant could have tacos and be rid of the evil adult who left him and an innocent dog all alone in the wilderness for six months.

Instead, Grant lowers the gun to talk to Garrett, and then, he’s terrified when Garrett starts shooting things with a smaller gun before making it clear he’s going to teach Grant how to use it.

In the present, across the room, Raina smiles at Garrett, and honestly, I think it was just a simple, normal smile in this instance, but he declares to Grant that something about her unnerves him. Grant is all for agreeing she’s no good and could never take his place as the one person who Garrett does have some sort of genuine emotional connection with, and then, interestingly, he flat out lies when Garrett asks what she texted about earlier.

Raina comes over with a vial of the healing serum, and Dalton does great with Grant’s subtle feelings at the fact there’s now concrete hope Garrett won’t die.

Meanwhile, over to Team Coulson, Trip invokes thoughts of stereotypically gently nagging grandmothers when he’s like, ‘There’s plenty of spy stuff, Fitz! Here, take this, it’ll literally save you and Simmons later, and since I know I can trust her to make sure you wear a warm sweater, you’ll be spared from that, now, wanna do a fist bump?’

Well, Fitz does not get the concept of fist bumps, and this episode can thank Ragnarok for me not assuming this was a stupid gag about dorkily square white guys not being able to connect with hip, cool black ones. Instead, as shown by Bruce not getting the concept of a fist bump with Thor, it could be argued to be a gag about nerdy, somewhat introverted brainy types not connecting with more extroverted, physically active types, and fair enough.

Everyone gathers together, and it’s possible I missed something, but this strikes me as idiotic: Non-combat trained, literally taking no weapons Fitzsimmons are sent to find the plane, where there’s a good chance Grant and company will be near, all by themselves. Why isn’t May, Trip, or Coulson going with them? Why isn’t one or more of the combat-trained agents going instead of them?

Hell, even giving one or both of them a gun or icier would be better than this.

In Cuba, the other four are discussing the barber shop, because, all four of them needed to be here for this. They get a call from Fitzsimmons, and after the call, Fitzsimmons is caught by Grant.

If only one of the combat-trained officers were there. Sending one with them or even just sending a combat-trained agent by themselves would be better than sending all three with nu!Faith. I can understand the team might be overprotective after her shooting, but I really don’t think she needs all three. One or two would likely be enough.

Transition into a flashback over ten years ago. Out in the wilderness, Grant is being a good human to poor, doomed Buddy, and Garrett takes note of this. This leads into him talking about how SHIELD abandoned him when he was injured behind enemy lines.

Even though it’s been made clear SHIELD is content to sacrifice loyal agents whenever it suits them, there’s a real possibility this is unreliable narration on his part. Maybe, SHIELD did actually try in his case but just couldn’t get there before he’d managed to save himself. In any case, Garrett would have been like this even if SHIELD had rescued him. If he’d never been injured, eventually, something else would have tempted or swayed him. His claims of loyalty are either manipulation or delusions.

On a different note, I like the bit where it’s made clear: Grant knew Garrett had implants, but he never asked or apparently made in attempt to find out the story some other way.

Garrett explains he’s part of a secret organisation within SHIELD, Hydra.

Back in the present, Grant brings Fitzsimmons to Garrett, and he makes a mistake in not taking the joy buzzer Fitz has.

I don’t completely buy this. Yes, Fitz is often a bumbling dork, and Simmons is often a case of she can be distracted from a lot by giving her a scientific task or topic and occasionally making the appropriate noises whenever she pauses for breath, but he knows them on a deeper level.

Personally, I think it would have worked better if he’d taken it and either he accidentally activated it or one of the minions or even Garrett himself activated it.

This shorts out the implants, and this has Grant running around to get Garrett’s recharging kit, and as he does so, he exposits to an unfazed Raina what happened.

Once he’s back with it, Fitz is painfully hopeful that, having freed Grant from any control Garrett might have on him, Grant will be the person Fitz has always believed he is again.

Of course, Fitz didn’t and couldn’t free Grant, and this action, a case of self-defense done to free a supposed POW and protect them all, only made things worse.

Grant has Fitzsimmons taken away, and then, yells at everyone else to leave, too.

Back in the past, a deer is literally posing. Grant shows off his aiming skills, and poor Buddy runs off to get the meat. Garrett tells Grant that Grant has been accepted into SHIELD before applying emotional manipulation. He makes it clear he expects Grant to kill healthy, devoted Buddy despite things such a no-kill shelters and nice people who’d take good care of an older dog existing.

Of course, abused, broken Grant doesn’t bring up any of this. He’s aware there are other options, and he’s smart enough to know bad things would happen if he brought them up.

In the present, he and Raina are tending to Garrett, and when Garrett says he needs Grant to do something, Grant is ready and willing to do anything.

“Put down Fitz and Simmons.”

“What? No. There’s plenty of time. I won’t leave you.”

This is a combination of him not wanting to kill Fitzsimmons and genuinely wanting to stay near Garrett. Maybe part of him is worried, if he leaves to do this, Garrett might die before he gets back. I wonder, though, whether his feelings towards Fitzsimmons or his feelings for Garrett is the stronger propellent in this instance. After all, if Garrett gets better before Fitzsimmons is killed, maybe, he can change Garrett’s mind about wanting them dead.

Garrett echoes back to when he ordered Buddy’s death, and Grant agrees to do this.

In a moment that doesn’t work for me, Raina says she’ll stay with Garrett, and there’s no indication of malevolence in this. Likely, this is an instance of her offering genuine reassurance/comfort, but- neither Garrett or Grant trust her. Garrett seems to like her, but I’ve never gotten the impression Grant has any warm feelings towards her.

Could this be a moment where Grant’s hoping maybe she will do something?

Even if Garrett is confident enough to not be uneasy being left alone with her, I really can’t imagine Grant not being like, ‘Nope, dragging you by the arm and locking you out,’ or at least, cuffing her with, giving her something to contact him with, and making it clear, if she tries anything…

In Cuba, the four are wandering around the now abandoned lab.

Did they hurt Ernesto to get to this point? I know Ernesto was actively helping Garrett and company, but I like him. If they didn’t, one line about how they got the barber to leave by such-and-such non-harmful method would have been nice.

Meanwhile, there’s an interesting moment between Raina and Garrett. She has a look inside his implants, they talk about what’s going on, and he makes it clear she’s to use the vial on him.

Paxton and Ruth Negga have a nice, quiet chemistry, and they’re both playing such complex characters.

Elsewhere in the plane, Fitzsimmons lock themselves in something detachable. I’m not sure what exactly it is. Fitz pleads with Grant.

There’s a reason, from what all I’ve watched so far, I like Fitz the most out of the original Team Coulson. Unlike the others who pick and choose, he’s truly loyal and caring towards all of them. When they mess up and even when they hurt him, he’ll call them out, but he’ll also try to understand and extend help and caring.

He didn’t give up on Grant until Grant did the unforgivable to him. He saw Grant was the product of Garrett’s manipulative grooming, and he tried to help free Grant. He continued to believe Grant could and should be saved until Grant made it horribly clear this wasn’t the case.

Therefore, Fitz is the one person who, when it comes to Grant’s later treatment, I don’t have a problem with. Now, Fitz never really knew Grant, but he thought he did. In a way, he genuinely loved Grant. He believed there was good, and he forgave Grant for everything bad Grant did. If Grant had turned towards them, he would have done everything he could have to help Grant and to get the others to forgive and give Grant another chance.

Then, Grant not only tried to kill him, he permanently disabled him, and what’s even worse to Fitz, Grant tried to kill the most important person in the world to Fitz despite Fitz’s literal begging.

Intercepted with Fitz’s desperate attempts to convince him to be the good Fitz believe he can be, Grant remembers aiming his gun at sweet, uncomprehending Buddy.

He shoots into the air, and Buddy faithfully runs off to find the meat for his human companion.

In the present, he detaches the room/container Fitzsimmons are in, and it falls to the ocean.

Back in the past, a sniper rifle is aimed at Buddy.

This probably says something about me, but: For years, I never realised this was supposed to ambiguous. I always thought Grant had killed Buddy. The idea it was Garrett or that the rifle wasn’t shot never occurred to me.

Then, I read about this scene online.

The fact Brett Dalton has said he doesn’t think there’d be any redemption for Grant if Grant had killed Buddy, and the fact he was right with it later being revealed Grant did and Grant never got redemption bothers me.

Many people kill bugs. Many set out poison or snap traps when they have mice/rats in their house. Many people go hunting and fishing without releasing their catch in the case the of the latter. Many veterinarians will euthanise animals if either the animal is a threat to humans and/or it’s the only way to end an animal’s suffering.

It’s a warning sign when kids torture and/or kill animals such as cats and dogs, but I don’t believe a kid who does is automatically beyond all help. I’d like to believe, if given proper help, they have a chance at growing up to be a good person. Likewise, if an abused adult kills a healthy pet due to their abuser, yes, it’s horrible for the pet, but I’m not going to say this is proof the abused adult could never be extracted from the abuser’s control and that they’re unquestionably a horrible person themselves.

Grant has done horrible things, and some of them, I can understand why other people would say, ‘That was the line for me. He’s beyond redemption in my eyes,’ but for me personally, an animal being killed just can’t be one of those lines. I’ve had pets I loved dearly, and I’m strongly against cruelty towards animals, but I was raised to believe no animal is ever on par with a human being.

Back with Garrett, Raina warns him she can’t guarantee the vial will work, and if it doesn’t, she can’t make another one. He gives his consent, she injects him, and Grant comes in. Then, Garrett takes a cue from The Exorcist, and when he stops flailing around, he smiles psychotically as he declares he can feel the universe.

Meanwhile, Coulson and comp. are surrounded by super-soldiers, and hey, if one of the three combat-trained officers had gone with Fitzsimmons, there’s a chance three of Team Coulson could be relatively safe right now instead of literally all of them been captured.

In Washington, D.C., Quinn is talking to some military men about the super-soldiers.

Fin.


End file.
